Daniel Loeb's Third Point has acquired a stake in Centene (CNC) and wants the company to weigh selling itself before spending $15.3B on its proposed agreement to buy WellCare Health Plans (WCG), the Wall Street Journal's Cara Lombardo reports, citing people familiar with the matter. While it is not yet known how large Third Point's stake is, the firm owns at least $300M worth of Centene stock, and with derivatives, it could have significantly more exposure to the company's stock-price movement, Lombardo says. Other activist investors such as Corvex and Sachem Head have also built interests in Centene, and those firms believe Centene might not have considered all alternatives, such as a sale to Humana (HUM), before agreeing to acquire WellCare, the author notes, citing other people familiar with the matter. After the news, Centene shares rose 1.8% while WellCare shares fell 1%. Reference Link